The library is for learning. The classroom is for reviewing.

Learning objectives

• Distributed learning objectives (LOs) are general biomedical statements that could be used for a variety of contexts
• Studying LOs are a means to an end, not an end itself
• The end is to develop a foundation of knowledge useful for the study and practise of medicine.
• Exam assessments better reflect the specific context
• Exam questions re-frame the knowledge as a clinical problem
• There is no direct relationship between the exam questions and the corresponding weekly learning objectives (LOs)
• Studying the LOs in isolation give no context in relationship to the exam nor the clinical application
• Past exam question and the myriad of clinical details in a PBL case provide a better context
• A lot of wasted effort can be expended listening to, studying or noting irrelevant information that doesn't improve exam performance or have clinical impact.
• The temptation is to try to digest and assimilate all the information from the educational resources provided by the university.
• Rather than trying to learn and retain 'everything', knowledge needs to be sieved for relevance, analysed, organised and integrated into working form.
• A database of irrelevant, poorly structured and remote facts has no practical value and represents a significant waste of time attaining and retaining.

Lectures

• The same reasoning applies to the accompanying lectures.
• Lectures are a supplement to the curriculum
• The content can be broadly aimed - from directly clinical relevance to interesting diversions that have research potential
• Lectures are delivered at a pace that is far too rapid for a person who unfamiliar with the topic to analyse, filter, digest and remember.
• By nature lectures are given by 'specialists' in the field who may include detail that is only important to their peers. Not everything is either important or relevant.
• Some lectures do not discriminate between an audience of like-minded peers versus a group of initiates.
• The usefulness of the lecturer to the novice comes from structuring current knowledge in a way that is not apparent to the initiated.

Exam technique

• Going to every lecture and tutorial, studying every detail and remembering every piece of information DOES not guarantee success
• By nature exams are an artificial assessment process.
• Answers are given in a specific academic and cultural context that is pre-ordained and predictable
• All post-graduate medical specialist trainees invest a significant amount of time and energy understanding this concept, so should medical students
• Correct use of terminology is critical to understanding specialised areas of knowledge. Each discipline has its own specific vocabulary and key terms. Knowing the definitions and the nuances of meaning is important.
• The accurate and liberal use of this in an exam setting is the starting point to develop and elaborate your answers into a form that is acceptable for the examiners.
• Insightful and adaptable students know the 'lingo' and learn to speak it the right social or professional context.

The way forward

• Review the relevant exam questions to work out the context and scope of knowledge PRIOR to the tutorial and lectures
• Note the key terms and review some clinical textbooks to define these further
• Work backwards through pathology and pharmacology texts and then to anatomy and physiology texts to be able to answer the exam questions again noting
• KEY terms along the way as your reference point for further enquiry.
• Don't get buried in detail until you can paint broad strokes of where you would like to take your learning further.
• Go to tutorials and lectures pre-armed with this knowledge.
• The PBL cases and the lecture content will then become more easily followed
• Your ability to discriminate the critical issues versus the peripheral and irrelevant ones will improve and enable you to target your study effectively.
• Without pre-reading, a lecture becomes a data avalanche that will require later recall, review and analysis (a much more difficult task)

Pre-reading is the key. The library is for learning, the classroom is for reviewing, not the other way round.